La belle et la bete
by Scandiadream
Summary: Beauty and the Beast- Rayearth style


La belle et la bete   


by Scandiadream scandiadream@hotmail.com 

Disclaimer: Magic Knight Rayearth belongs to CLAMP. Beauty and the Beast was originally written by the Brothers Grimm and then adapted by Disney. This fanfic was invented by ME. 

Rated- PG for some innuendo and violence. 

Once upon a time, in a faraway land named Cephiro, there lived a young count. His parents had passed away, so he and his younger brother now inherited the castle. The count was very kind and handsome.   
So much that one day, a sultry experienced woman came to the castle and tried to seduce him. 

"Be mine. What else do you want" the temptress said.   
"NEVER! I am not that kind of person!" the young man replied.   
"What is this? No man can resist Alcyone. But since you have denied me, I will make you undesirable to every other woman in the world. The spell will be broken if a woman truly falls in love with you without knowing your true identity. You have a year- if by then this rose's last petal falls, or if you tell her, you will die".   
"Noooo!"   
The older brother was turned into a beast, and the younger one into a dog. And not only did they suffer this spell- the butler, the housekeeper, and their little boy were also turned into fantasy creatures. 

**** 

"There must be more than this provincial life" a young maiden sighed   
"Emeraude, what do you mean?" her mother, Presea, asked.   
"Mother, I want to go to places like those in my books. I want to know more, to learn, to travel, to reach"   
"Daughter, don't tell me you have turned into a gold digger" Presea admonished.   
"Sister's not a gold digger! She just does not want to marry Gaston! He's a total nincompoop!" a little boy exclaimed.   
"Now now Ferio. Talking about other people is not nice" the mother now turned to her son.   
"Well, Gaston does it all the time. Yet he wants to marry me?" Emeraude and Ferio both made faces of disgust.   
"When will Father be home?" Ferio asked for the 7th time that day.   
"Very soon. Hopefully before dinner". Presea comforted Ferio. 

Clef was a merchant and was returning from a business trip. But on the way back to his village, he passed a route he had never gone through. He saw a large castle- it was majestic, yet gloomy.   
"That castle looks haunted. But look- those must be the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen."   
Clef stepped down from his carriage and proceded to pick up some flowers, always thinking of his family.   
But a tall figure stood behind him.   
"Oh, I am very sorry. Please forgive me. Please spare my life. I was picking some flowers for my wife and daughter." Clef begged for mercy at the sight of the Beast.   
"Help yourself. I can tell you care very much for them." the Beast's words were gentle, but sad.   
"Thank you. Have a nice day!" Clef bowed and exited as soon as possible. 

"Father!!!!" Ferio ran towards Clef and hopped into his arms. Emeraude and Presea followed.   
"How's my beautiful wife? And how are my two children? You are never going to believe what I saw today"   
Presea, Emeraude, and Ferio knew that Clef often traveled to exotic locales, but nothing could prepare them for this.   
"A haunted castle, where the owner is a Beast that talks? I want to see for myself" Emeraude said.   
"Yes, I got these roses from there. And the Beast happily let me take them and was even friendly." Presea and Emeraude were delighted by the flowers.   
"How far away is it? I will investigate it." Emeraude imagined a place like those in her fairy tale books. 

Presea and Clef had no problem with Emeraude visiting the castle. However, someone else did.   
"Where do you think you are going?" a big muscular rugged guy interrupted Emeraude's ride.   
"Somewhere" Emeraude replied as politely as she could.   
"Why are you going away if I can give you anything you want" Gaston said.   
"Gaston, please, leave me alone. You have a multitude of pretty girls who like you- so why do you care for a bookworm like me? Emeraude said.   
"You have a certain allure" Gaston said trying to get closer.   
Emeraude made sure she and her horse ran away as sure as possible. 

Emeraude followed her father's map to the castle. She knocked on the door. A griffin answered.   
"Hello sir, may I speak to the owner of this castle? My father was here yesterday" Emeraude asked.   
"It is not often that my master gets visitors. And please, call me Lafarge."   
"Why do you have such a human name, griffin, I mean Lafarge. Oh, pardon my rudeness."   
"It is all right. And this is Caldina, the housekeeper. And this is our s..um..page Ascot" Lafarge pointed to a pretty harpy and to a little unicorn. 

Emeraude noticed that a more anthropomorphic shadow lurked in the corner. She tried to smile at it, but it just hid. A dog appeared next to it and walked sheepishly towards Emeraude. It sniffed her hand, and wagged its tail.   
"Hello there maiden" the dog said in a young masculine voice.   
Emeraude had never met a talking dog, but since there was already a griffin, harpy, and unicorn acting like people, she was not as surprised as she would expect.   
"And who are you, little doggie?"   
"Hey!" the dog said, as if not happy that he had been called a dog.   
"It's all right, Lantis." the figure finally emerged from the shadow. It was the Beast that Clef had described. The Beast stood about the height of a tall human male, and was dressed in nice clothes.   
"So you must be the one my father talked about." Emeraude shook hands with the Beast. Why was he looking into her eyes? "It's not like I am hiding something. I don't plan on hurting you" an unsuspecting Emeraude wondered to herself.   
"Welcome to my castle. Your visit is very pleasant" the Beast said in a velvety voice.   
"Nice to meet you, Beast. My name is Emeraude Maimonides. What is yours?"   
"Just call me Beast" he said in a depressed tone.   
"But your dog has a name, and your servants have names." Emeraude was confused.   
"No. Please just call me Beast, since that is what I am." Now Emeraude knew that the Beast hid something. And she would find out what it was. 

"I have to go home now. Have a good night, Beast"   
"Will you come again? It is very lonely here." the Beast asked.   
"Of course."   
Emeraude was a bit scared at first, but now she felt completely comfortable. How could such a large castle be so isolated? She definitely wanted to come back. 

"Beast, you are young. You are even younger than me. Can you tell me why are you so sour?"   
"I cannot. However, your visits have made my lonely life much brighter." The beast held Emeraude's hand with his right arm. Emeraude at first wanted to jerk away, but she did not. The beast was so respectful, as compared to Gaston who tried to propass himself whenever he could. Emeraude would not let Gaston get away with it though. 

"Do you like the library, Emeraude?"   
"Oh I love it. It has more books than what I have ever seen."   
"Then it is yours. I want to share it with you."   
"Thank you!"   
"You are very welcome. You brighten this dark palace."   
"I have never been to the West Wing, though."   
"PLEASE do not go there. Under no circumstances. It is very dangerous."   
"Why?"   
"Um, it has not been cleaned for years, and I do not want you to get sick. Yes, I do not want you to get sick or attacked by vermin." Emeraude could tell the Beast was nervous. 

"Why do you not tell her?" Lafarge asked the Beast one day. "I can tell you love her, and I do think she is fond of you too."   
"I cannot. Remember what that witch said. Besides, if she knew who I truly was, maybe she would   
want to be with me for different reasons." the Beast replied.   
"I doubt it. That girl's got a heart of gold." Caldina said with hope.   
"Still, could she ever look at me the same way I look at her?" 

Clef and Presea had no problem with Emeraude visiting the Beast's castle. However, someone did.   
"What in the world does that place have that I do not? I think that monster may be brainwashing that girl.   
Can't be anything else- since all who live there besides the monster are four other animals." Gaston said.   
"We are ransacking that place as soon as we can".   
Unbeknownst to Gaston, the police force was eavesdropping.   
"If a maiden from our village is visiting without any complaints, then the owner must be a good person." the police chief, Eagle Vision, stated.   
"Yes, but we have to investigate, just in case" the assistant chief, Geo Metro, replied. 

One day, Emeraude even brought Ferio to the castle.   
"Beast, this is my little brother Ferio."   
"Hello there Beast. Too bad you don't have any little brothers like me!" Ferio said.   
The Beast took a look at his dog and sighed, but he gained composure quickly again. 

Ferio played with Lantis while Emeraude played the piano for the Beast.   
All of a sudden, it became dark. Thunder and lightning struck incessantly.   
"Emeraude, Ferio, it is not safe to head back home. Please do stay here- there are two rooms in the East Wing that you may use. Plus we have plenty of food and warm baths too." Caldina said. 

"Sister, I cannot sleep"   
"Me either."   
"Lantis has his own room. I had never seen a dog have his own bedroom with a four post bed." Ferio seemed perplexed.   
"The Beast said to not go into the West Wing. However, I do not see why- what could be so harmful?" 

Emeraude and Ferio entered the West Wing. Nothing seemed out of place, until they arrived at a chamber. It looked like a family room, except that there was a rose inside a jar of glass whose petals were falling off one by one.   
"Why is that rose not planted?"   
The siblings took a closer look at some portraits above the fireplace. There was a beautiful couple wearing fancy outfits. "Count Aston and Countess Alfa Montague". Next there was a portrait of a young boy- not too much older than Ferio. He read the name under the picture:   
"Lantis. Just like the dog! Maybe the Beast named the dog after someone who lived here long ago." Ferio said.   
"Ferio, the paint is new. And look at the clothes- they are this year's fashions. This portrait was painted recently."   
"Look- there's another one."   
The other portrait featured a young man who looked like an older version of the boy. When Emeraude saw it, she blushed.   
"Let me read it- Zagato. And who's may that be? Sister, uh, sister!" Ferio waved his hand in front of his smiling sister.   
"He is very very handsome. But, where is he?"   
"Look, sister." Ferio showed Emeraude another portrait. It showed a muscular blond man, an exotic looking woman, and a little child who resembled both of them. "Lafarge, Caldina, Ascot". The portrait also displayed current fashion and new paint.   
"Could it be? That the creatures who inhabit this castle, are truly those people?"   
"When I played with Lantis today, I felt like I was playing with another boy rather than with a dog." 

"WHO GOES THERE?"   
Emeraude and Ferio tried to hide and be quiet, but the Beast discovered them.   
"I thought I told you not to go inside the West Wing. Why have you come here?"   
"Please, please forgive me. I did not mean to hurt you, Zagato!" Emeraude did not know why she blurted out the name of the young man she saw in the portrait in reference to the Beast. But when she did, the Beast filled with tears and ran away upon hearing his given name, covering his face with his hands."  
"Oh no. Now I have done something terrible." Emeraude now was crying.   
"Sister, I think we have worse things to worry about." Ferio pointed out the window. 

There was a small mob of rowdy villagers with torches and clubs shouting "Kill the Beast"   
"Who do you think you are, monster? We're going to finish you!" Gaston shouted.   
"YEAH!" his minions shouted. 

"You are not going to hurt my master without passing over ME" Lafarge pulled out his sword.   
"Wrong monster. Keep going!" Gaston pretty much trampled over Lafarge. 

"He may be a beast, but he is friendly and peaceful. My children clearly like him, and I do too. Please do not let Gaston and company hurt them." Clef told Eagle and Geo at the police station.   
"Do not worry. And even if we did not know the owner of this mysterious castle, we just cannot let those thugs get away with this." 

Meanwhile at the castle, Caldina tried throwing objects at the mobsters and Ascot tried to ram them with his little horn. But Gaston was persistent. Even Lantis' powerful bites did not discourage Gaston from trying to find the Beast.   
"Hey monster, give me back my little future wife"   
"She does not belong to you." the Beast replied and fought with his sword.   
"No please, don't Gaston, please do not hurt the Beast." Emeraude said.   
"And leave my older sister alone." Ferio added. 

"I have a warrant for the arrest of Gaston LeGrand" Eagle Vision said as he entered the castle.   
"Why do you want to arrest me and not this monster? He is the one causing distress to this damsel."   
"I have evidence against that." 

Geo was able to handcuff Gaston and take him away. But the Beast was in very poor shape.   
He could feel the last petal of the rose begin to wilt.   
"Emeraude. I am sorry. Thank you for brightening my life. I will miss you." the Beast said as he closed his eyes.   
"No Beast, please don't go! I love you!" Emeraude held the beast's hand with one of hers while she touched his faintly slowing heart with the other. Her tears fell upon his face.   
And when Emeraude uttered this words straight from her heart, something began to happen. The spiderwebs and darkness faded into beautiful light and shiny walls. The clouds that usually covered the palace gave way to sunshine and a rainbow. And the creatures in the palace began taking their true forms- Lafarge, Caldina, and Ascot were indeed the couple and little child, Lantis was the boy, and the Beast was the young man that Emeraude had gazed at the portrait of.   
"Beast? What happened?"   
"Emeraude, your true love has saved me."   
"I don't think I understand."   
"I refused someone earlier because I could not bring myself to be with her, and she turned all of us into creatures. Only the true love of a woman who could see past the beast would save me. And please, call me Zagato, that is my name."   
"I am sorry, Zagato, I wish I had known earlier. That way you would have suffered less. Why didn't you tell me?". Now they were holding each other's hands.   
"I could not. Had I or anyone said a word, I would have died immediately. And I could not just leave my brother alone." the young man was crying indeed.   
"Zagato." the maiden touched his face, and he smiled.   
"But everything will be fine from now on. The spell has been broken, thanks to you. Emeraude, I love you."   
"I love you too"   
And they kissed.   
"YES!" shouted Ferio and Lantis. Ascot was too busy watching Caldina and Lafarge kiss. 

Eagle and Geo entered the room. Presea and Clef rushed into it, hoping that their children were all right.   
"Emeraude, everything has been taken care of, you will be safe and Gaston will not bother you anymore."   
Eagle said.   
Then they saw that Emeraude was embracing someone they did not know.   
"I do not know who you are, but whoever you are, you are much better suited for Emeraude than Gaston could ever be." Geo remarked. Clef and Presea could tell who the young man truly was. 

And indeed, he was. The loving couple got married and lived happily ever after.   
  


Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie, as well as one of my favorite fairy tales. I changed the reason of the young man becoming a beast in order to fit the MKR characters more. I love MKR and fairy tales too much.   
  
  


  
  
  



End file.
